In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of realizing Christ's soon return and how it should impact our lives. The speaker urges the audience to consider how this realization is affecting their priorities, schedules, prayer life, and witness. The sermon then focuses on 1 Thessalonians 4:1-3, which instructs believers to live in a way that pleases God and to avoid sexual immorality. The speaker encourages the audience to adjust their lives to align with God's will and emphasizes that living a life pleasing to God is the most important thing in this world.

I was reading the other day in Mere Christianity, kind of reviewing it again, where C.S. Lewis said, it is not so much instruction that we need, but reminding. Isn't that true? We need to be reminded over and over and over. Now, you heard about pleasing God last week, and by today you might not be remembering it as well as you did when you went out of the room last Friday morning. In 1 Peter 1.13, this is all introductory, don't take it down, it's just, I'm just talking to you, just to remind you. In the New International Version, I feel like Peter, when he said, I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established. We still need that reminding. Alright, I want to remind you, 1 Peter 1.13, I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established. The Living Bible says, as long as I am still here, I intend to keep sending these reminders to you, hoping to impress them so clearly upon you, that you will remember them. This study is on pleasing the heart of God in everything we do. If you missed the first two lessons, I would advise you to borrow a tape or buy a tape, whatever you want. I don't get anything off the tape, so this is not my commercial, but I want you to catch up, because I feel the material is from the Lord, and it will have a profound influence on your life. I want you to stop and think again this morning, just a few minutes, how does the realization of Christ's soon return affect you? What changes is it making in your life? In your priorities? In your schedules? In your prayer life? In your devotional life? In your witnessing? In your flesh life? What is happening to you? I want you to just think of that for a few minutes. I want you to think about it all week. And I want you to begin to adjust your life to pleasing God. As I have said the last two weeks, and I say it by review again, God laid this message very, very heavily upon my heart. I think it's probably the heaviest message that God has ever laid on my heart, because it's such a strong answer to the problems in our life. If we live a life that's pleasing to God, that's all that really matters in this world. It covers everything. You can be at home doing your dishes, you can be knitting, you can be driving your car. It doesn't mean that you're rushing off all the time, or you're hurrying to witness, or you're just in this constant stressful situation of life. But it means that whatever you're doing, wherever you are, you are living pleasing to Him. When we flew from Merced to San Francisco yesterday, and changed planes, and Chuck is always doing this to me. We were supposed to leave at 1.30, and he found out there was a plane at 1.10, and we just ran, and we just got in the plane. We got in the plane, we found out it was going to stop at Monterey after we're in the plane, and it's taken off. So we got in here four minutes sooner than we would have had we taken the later plane. But nevertheless, God had a plan in it, as He always does. But it's fun. It's fun. Anyhow, the plane at Monterey, between, when the passengers got off between, when we landed at Monterey, a lot of people got off the plane, and we were able to move to better seats. And we thought, well, the plane will be probably fairly empty from here to Orange County. Who wants to go to Orange County this afternoon? It's probably foggy down there, and it was sunny where we were. Well, so we have learned little tricks when we're flying. We learned that if you sit certain places, people won't want to sit in your row, and so you have more freedom and all this. That's just as a plane. We don't do it to be selfish. We do it to, if the plane's not full. And all of a sudden, we saw this big string of people coming out to get on the plane. I said, it's not going to work, Chuck. We might as well give up the other seat. Yeah, he agreed. Well, a lady sat down by me, an older lady, and I thought, Jesus put her there. I know. I'm tired. I don't want to talk. Okay. So I'm, you know, I'm looking at a book, and, oh, the scenery out the window is fabulous. And I'm looking every way. I don't want to look at her because I know what the Lord is saying to me. And it isn't because I don't want to witness. It's because I'm just plain tired. And all of a sudden, the Lord goes, you're going to be speaking on pleasing me tomorrow, aren't you? Yeah. Yeah. Hi, lady. Do you live in Orange County? No, I live in Salinas. Oh, well, that's great. Chuck says, oh, the lettuce capital. Yeah, blah, blah, blah. And I was so tired. I just wanted to go, lady, do you know Jesus is coming soon? You better get ready. Accept him as your Savior. Can I go to sleep? Okay, Lord, does that please you? Okay. So I, you know, think of the woman at the well and how much time Jesus took with her. But so I, do you live in, you know, oh, you don't live in Orange County. And we start a conversation. And so something came up about Israel. You know how good the Lord is? He just brings Israel into conversation. Not because I've got a necklace on, you know, but I don't remember how it even came up. And I said, oh, isn't Israel in a mess? We were there just a few weeks ago. You were in Israel? Yeah. Well, my brother and sister-in-law were in Israel. Oh. I said, interesting. Are they Christians? Well, yeah. Well, then you know right away. Isn't it interesting how God gives you clues immediately? You know, they're not Christians. I knew she wasn't born again. So I said to her, are you a Christian? The same kind of, you know, slow response. Do you go to church? Yes. You know, I don't want to offend anybody here this morning. So if I do, I didn't mean to. Well, I'm a Methodist. Well, wow. Are you a born-again Methodist? Am I a what? Hmm. And so I had a chance to say, you know, the situation in Israel is so bad. And we believe that Jesus is coming soon. And then I said, and he's a minister. And he just finished a conference. And he did this. And he did that. And I'm, why don't you talk a while? So we had a precious time. And she didn't accept Jesus right then. But we were able to really plant seeds. It wasn't by accident. And I ended up with that precious feeling of satisfaction. Beyond my own tiredness, beyond my own will, I was pleasing to God. And what a comfort that is today. What if I hadn't? How would I feel? Wouldn't Satan just love to say, look, when it comes right down to the bottom line, you're not living what you're saying. I want to live everything I say to you. That's another desire in my heart. Because that pleases God. Okay. The three scriptures. And you that have been here before have written these down. On pleasing God that have been so meaningful and inspired me so heavily. Revelation 11-4. All things were created for his pleasure. You were created for his pleasure. That is your only reason for having been created. I feel this so strongly because I was adopted. I thought so many times of what could have happened to me. But God had me put in a Christian home at least the first 11 years of my life. It was strongly Christian. And I look and I go, oh, I know you had a plan for my life. Because I could have been put in any other kind of a home. But God put me in that home. And I know that for every woman in this room, you were created for one purpose. You were allowed to live for one purpose. And that is to bring pleasure to God because his word says that's why everything was created. Secondly, Jesus is our example. In John 8-29, I do always those things that please him. And Hebrews 11-5-6. Enoch had this testimony before he was translated that he pleased God. What have you done this week that you know really pleases God's heart? What changes have been made in your life? Every week we should be growing and changing spiritually. We grow and change right as we're sitting here every morning. When you come to this class, you're growing and you're changing physically right as you sit here. And what are you doing spiritually? Are you maturing spiritually? I pray that through this study, our hearts will be moved closer and closer to a continuous flow of always pleasing him. That's his desire for us. Last week, we shared one of two areas in which we absolutely cannot please God. Hebrews 11-6. Okay, what are one of the ways we cannot please God? If we don't have what? Faith. Okay, because we must believe that God is. We must believe that he is. And we talked over the fact and we shared with you, it isn't just believing that he exists, that he's an essence that makes flowers bloom and the sun shine and all that sort of thing. But we have to believe he is the God of all power and ability and yet the God who has allowed you to be put on the earth for a definite purpose. And he's watching you, loving you, caring for you, and tenderly guiding you as much as you allow him to. Now, you will never be able to live a life that's pleasing to him unless you have the faith to believe that he is the God who is infinitely concerned about you. About you. Every one of you in this room. And if there is anything that Satan hammers at, it's the fact that he's not interested in me, he doesn't really care, he's not watching over me, where are you when I need you? All these things. When you go through a terrible situation, the death of a loved one, or you go through a trial, a husband's unfaithful, or he leaves, or your children get on drugs or something, where are you, God? You really don't care and you become angry with God. And I hate to hear a Christian say she's angry with God. Joy Dawson said, how can you be angry with a God who is all love and in whom there is no iniquity, no sin at all? And his plans towards you, as we said last week, are for good, not for evil. He loves you more than anybody could ever love you or will ever love you. And please, daily say to yourself, program in the computer of your brain, God loves me, and say your name. God loves Kay, God loves Claire, God loves Joan, God loves Ethylene, God loves every single one of this room, and his love for you will not stop. And remember that. And we talked about God loves bad little girls and he loves good little girls, but good little girls bring joy to his heart. And don't think just because you've sinned that he doesn't love you anymore. His love reaches down. When your children sin, do you love them less? You shouldn't. As parents, we often do love them less when they sin, but we shouldn't. We should just... You know, usually the naughtiest child is the one that needs the most attention. They find that so true in the classroom at school. And he's the one that needs the most love, and he misbehaves. He, what did I say, needs the most attention? Yeah, he needs the most love, and he misbehaves to get some attention and love because he's so desperate for it. And sometimes Christians misbehave to get more love. They think that they're going to receive more attention from the body or something, and so they misbehave, and they really do need more love when they're behaving that way. Okay, now there's another specific statement about how we cannot please God that I want us to turn to this morning. Romans 8.8. And just leave your Bible open there this morning unless I ask you to turn someplace else. Romans 8.8. Let's just read it together. Heavy. Hmm. Let's read it together. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. Without faith, it's impossible to please Him, and if you're in the flesh, you can't please Him. Now, these things work together. If you have faith to believe that God is and He's dwelling with you and He's with you constantly and you're aware of His presence, if you're really aware of His presence, you are not going to walk in the flesh. So the first step to pleasing God in this particular pattern that I'm bringing forth is to have that faith that pleases God, and that is the recognition that God is. He's with you. He's interested in you. He has a plan for your life. Okay, this scripture, some Bible scholars believe this refers to someone who is not a Christian, and you can keep that in mind this morning. Others believe it is the Christians who are following their old evil desires. If you've read Watchman Nee's The Normal Christian Life, how many in the room have read that book? Now, I don't suggest anything beyond that book. Some of you, especially like Release of the Spirit, but it's the one book I think we're safe in, and the Witness League goes off. It's not the same. But Watchman Nee's The Normal Christian Life has such a beautiful explanation of the 8th chapter of Romans. This particular chapter is a deep chapter in the Bible. We are not staying on the shoreline this morning. We're plummeting. We're going out in the depths. This is a little bit heavy stuff. Once you hear this, you have a much greater responsibility before the Lord, and I want you to hear it. It's a much harder lesson because of that. It is a deeper lesson, but it's one that we need here in Calvary very, very much among the women. I don't consider myself a teacher. I consider myself an exhorter and a sharer. So, this morning, what I'm bringing is by way of exhortation to encourage you to stimulate, to admonish you to walk in a way that's pleasing to God. All right. So, they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Christians who are fought, what does it mean to be in the flesh? What does it mean as a Christian to be in the flesh? Now, we know what it would mean if you're not a Christian. It means ruled, controlled by Satan, living in the kingdom of darkness, following evil desires and impulses and all that sort of thing. But what does it mean for a Christian to be in the flesh? Sometimes this verse calls people to call Christians carnal Christians, and there's a great debate among theologians that's been going on for years. Are there carnal Christians or aren't there carnal Christians? Well, we can go back to the parable of the ten virgins. Five were wise and five were foolish, and the only difference between them was that five were prepared for the coming of the bridegroom and five weren't. And I would say that the five that weren't were, if we want to call them that, carnal Christians. Fleshly Christians. Christians who are walking after their own desires, their evil desires, rather than walking after the Spirit of God. Chuck's definition last night, I said, what do you say living after the flesh is? He said, living to fulfill our bodily appetites, and that's the top priority of our life. The Amplified said it's catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature. Living Bible says following their old evil desires, or following our old evil desires. In Galatians 5.19, the works of the flesh are listed, and there are many lists of works of the flesh, but I'm going to read these again because I want you to use this as a checkpoint, Charlie. I was reading a sermon by a minister who used to preach at the Keswick conferences, and if you know anything about those, they were conferences held in England at the turn of the century. And he was saying, I wrote it down someplace, but I don't recall right now where I wrote it, but he said, I'll have to rephrase it because I can't, he said, I have prayed that I would step on your toes this morning. He said, I want to touch the places in your life that you're holding on to that grieve God's heart, and I want to offend you if I have to, to break your heart, to get rid of these things. And I thought, oh, oh, Lord, I want to do it too, but I don't want to offend anybody. I'm sensitive. I don't want to hurt anybody. And the Lord said to my heart, K, it's got to be. So if you leave today and you feel upset or angry or like I don't want to change my life, if you feel rebellious in your spirit, go to the Lord about it. This lesson might do that. I'm not sure. I'm praying that the Holy Spirit will speak to each one of our lives. And I must tell you, when I'm speaking to you, I always end up convicted. Always. I don't get by. Don't think I ever get by with anything. The more responsibility you have, the more conviction you have. All right, 519 in Living Bible, what is the flesh like? But when you follow your own wrong inclinations, your lies will produce these evil results. Impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry. Now, don't think that idolatry just means worshiping little wooden gold or silver statues. Idolatry is putting anything above your love for God. Anything that's above your love for God is idolatry. Anything. If you put yourself above your love for God, if you do your own will instead of His will, it's a form of idolatry. Okay, spiritism. That is encouraging the activity of demons. I think most of us can, oh well, I'm fine on that one. Okay, we go to the next one. Hatred and fighting. Jealousy and anger. Constant effort to get the best for yourself. Complaints and criticisms. The feeling that everyone else is wrong except those in your own little group. Have you ever been that way? And there will be wrong doctrine, envy, murder, drunkenness, wild parties, and all that sort of thing. That's what the flesh is like. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't want to be around those kind of people. Do you? Except to witness to them about the power of Jesus Christ to change their life. But that's what the flesh is like. And we all have those tendencies. There isn't a person in the room who hasn't been guilty of something in there. We all have walked in some of those things. Every one of us. None of us are that free from that. We were talking while we were in Medford about the definition of perfection or sanctification. And someone said that Dr. McGee one time on one of his broadcasts said, I always wondered what sanctification meant. Now, he didn't mean true sanctification. He meant that kind of sanctification where you go to church and you go down front and you pray and you get up and say, I'll never sin again. How many have ever heard of that kind of sanctification? When I was a little girl, it used to be a very, very important doctrine. And people really believed that. And then when they sinned again, they were so shocked. And this was very prevalent when Dr. McGee was a young fellow and he said, he had a roommate and they got along beautifully. And one night the man went to a church service where the sanctification thing was taught. And Dr. McGee said, I learned what sanctification meant. He said, we'd always gotten along well before this. But when he came home, he told me he was sanctified. And he said, you know what it meant? It meant from then on out when anything went wrong, I was at fault. I like that because that's what happens. The person who feels that they are sanctified in that phony way feels that it's everybody else's fault that they're sinning. Okay, but that isn't what this fleshly life is like. And this is not what it means to walk after the flesh. I'm talking this morning to the Christian who lives the inconsistent yo-yo life. And a lot of Christians do. One day they're in victory. The next day they're out of fellowship. One time you see them and they're all hyped up about Jesus coming. And the next day they think He's never going to come again. One day they're pleasing God and they're witnessing. And the next day they're hanging out where they shouldn't be. And they're just going back and forth. And there are lesser and greater degrees of this. There's the Christian who's sometimes happy in Jesus. And the next time, just so depressed, she can hardly walk across the floor. Now, I'm not talking about circumstances of life coming in that make you feel so bad. I'm talking about when self is on the throne of your life. Now, God has given a solution to this. And that's why they that are in the flesh cannot possibly please God. Because the flesh was rotten, is rotten, and will always be rotten. So you know what God did? Turn to Romans 6. God put this body of sin that we carry around with us to death. He crucified it. When Jesus Christ died on the cross. If I asked you this morning to make a list of the things that Jesus' death brought to you, most of you probably would say, well, forgiveness of sin, eternal life, justification, redemption, atonement, on and on and on. But this is the truth that we so often neglect. And that is, He destroyed the works of Satan so that sin can never again have dominion over you. You were a slave to sin before you met Jesus Christ. And before you recognized that you were nailed to the cross. We call Christ's death a vicarious atonement. That means He died in my place. I should have hung upon the cross. You should have hung upon the cross. This body of sin needed to be put to death. God is through with these bodies of ours that are so sinful, this sinful nature. I'm not talking about your flesh and this tent that we're housed in. I'm talking about the sensual, evil nature. It was put to death on the cross of Calvary that it would no more rule over you. Romans 6.6 from Living Bible. Your old evil desires were nailed to the cross with Him. That part of you that loves to sin was crushed and fatally wounded. So that your sin-loving body is no longer under sin's control. No longer needs to be a slave to sin. You are no more under the dominion of sin. You were once just chained about and shackled. And you couldn't help what you were doing. That's before you met Jesus Christ. But when you came to Jesus Christ and you made Him the Savior of your life. You were delivered from sin's power over you. Sin can no more have dominion over you. You must recognize this fact. I cannot get it across clearly enough to you. The Holy Spirit will have to do it. I want you to meditate on it. I want you to read Romans 6.6. The whole chapter. The whole sixth chapter of Romans. It's difficult. It's going to take sitting down and reading it and saying, God make it clear. Show me this truth. This was such a liberating thing in my life. Temptation comes. I don't have to succumb to that. That thing does not have power over me. You gals. You single ladies that are so tempted by the flesh sexually. And we hear an awful lot of this around Calvary. And girls that succumb to it. You do not have to succumb to that. Sin doesn't have power over you anymore. Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. And the Holy Spirit is to rule your life. This is one of the most important facts that a Christian must know. Let it be graven on your heart. Not only to be pleasing to God, but what displeases God. These two things that displease God. Walking in the flesh displeases God. And you don't have to do it. Because from God's side, He did two marvelous things for you. And the first thing He did was nail that body of sin of yours to the cross. And it will no more enslave you. It does not have control over you. In the 12th verse of the 6th chapter. And I would love to read the whole chapter. I've been over and over. If you have a sin flesh problem in your life, read this chapter. You can almost say it by memory. Do not let sin control your puny body any longer. I love that. Don't you? Do not give in to its sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become tools of wickedness to be used for sinning. But give yourself completely to God. Sin need never again be your master. For now you are no longer tied to the law where sin enslaves you. But you are free under God's favor and mercy. Listen to me this morning. Sin can no longer dominate anybody in this room. If you are a born again believer. We are to live pleasing to God. And we must know that He has given us the power to live pleasing to Him. And this power, this first one I'm speaking to you about. Is the power not to be enslaved to any sinful thing. You are not under the dominion of sin. We don't need so much instruction as we do reminding. So I'm going to keep reminding you this morning. Simply stated it is this. My flesh, my body appetites could never be pleasing to God. So God put them to death on the cross. Remember Paul said, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me. That should be all our testimony. This is a powerful and a freeing truth. It isn't just that Jesus through His death took the punishment for our sins. But my sinful nature was also put to death on that cross. So I am no more in subjection to it. I do not have to obey it. I am no longer a slave to my passions or sinful desires. I am no longer under its power. Our sinful nature was put to death on Calvary. You are no longer enslaved. You are free. As I recognize this truth and act upon it, I realize that sin cannot anymore control me. Okay, reckon yourselves, it says in verse 11 of chapter 8. Back to chapter 8, Romans 8. It's 611, isn't it? I love it when you know what I want. That's such a blessing. They knew. I mean, that really blesses me. Thank you, Lord. Okay, 611. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Then let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body. What does reign mean? Rule. Rule over. If something reigns its king over you, let not sin therefore reign or be king in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof. But reckon yourselves to be dead to sin. In the NIV, I think it says consider. Consider yourself to be dead to sin. I love it. In the same way, it says count yourself. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin. Say, I'm dead to that thing. But alive unto God in Christ. Now, I want to make this very, very practical. You're tempted. You feel whatever kind of temptation is prevalent in your life. When this happens, or if you feel you are bound by something today, you go to the Lord in prayer. And this we're going to deal with later on. The place of prayer in pleasing God. But you go to God in prayer, and you say, Father, I want to live a life pleasing to you. You don't have to say these words, but this is the idea of it. But Satan and my flesh are in rebellion to you. And they're lying to me. And they're trying to cause me to sin and grieve your heart by making me think I cannot be freed from this thing. But you said in your word. Now, how did Jesus overcome Satan? Through the word. You said in your word that I am freed from sin. The power of sin over me. That it no longer has dominion over me. I'm no longer a slave to sin. Therefore, I yield to you and ask that your Holy Spirit do His work in my life to free me from this. Now, the second part of this. The first part is recognize that sin no longer has dominion over you. The second part of God's work to enable you to please Him is He has given you the power of the Holy Spirit. You are actually the temple of the Holy Spirit. You are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. When you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, God dwells in you by the Holy Spirit. And His indwelling presence gives you power over sin. Remember that. You have power in your life by the Holy Spirit that God has given you. And you need not allow any sin to rule your body or to reign over you. God has given you power to resist sin. He doesn't ask you to do anything in His word that He doesn't give you the power to enable you to do it. In 1 Corinthians 6.19, we're told that our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. The dwelling place of the Holy Ghost. And it is His desire that being controlled by His Holy Spirit, we will glorify Him. Now, this next week, I want you to search out what it means to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. Will you write that in your notes this morning? What does it mean to me to be controlled by the Holy Spirit? How are we filled with the Spirit? What does Ephesians 5.18 say? And be not drunk with wine where it is in excess, but be filled with the Spirit. You cannot walk after the Spirit. You will walk after the flesh if you are not continually being filled with God's Holy Spirit. There are two heavy forces at work in the world, and they fight against each other constantly. They are antagonistic to each other. One is the Spirit, and the other is the flesh. It's very interesting to me when I just... I don't know if you know anything about body language. When I talk, one is the Spirit, I use my right hand, and one is the flesh, is my left hand. In Latin, if you took Latin in school, remember the word sinister comes from left. Sine, I can't remember the word. It's been a long time since I took Latin. But anyhow, left is bad in Latin. Mala, I can't remember how the word goes. But anyhow, the left represents bad. Now, don't you left-handed people feel that I think you're bad? I don't mean that. But isn't it interesting that even in body language, the right and the left were to be controlled by the Spirit, and these things fight against each other. Your fleshy desires war against the spiritual desires. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is victorious. That power flows out of you, and you find you don't even want to do those things. And you're going, hey, me? I don't want to do that. I don't want to, you know? And it's amazing. Now, if we are walking in the flesh, it is a sign that we are not filled with the Spirit. I am not talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit right now, although that is certainly a further enabling power. But I am talking about the Holy Spirit who makes His residence within us when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. And His Spirit should be so strong within you that when you come up against the temptations of the flesh, your desires have been changed so that you don't even want to do those things you once wanted to do. That is what God's Spirit is supposed to do in your life. And do you know that it is possible to really hate sin, to hate anything that grieves the heart of God? I said to you either last week or the week before, if you don't want to walk pleasing to God, but somehow there is that desire way down, but up here you go, oh, I don't want to do that, then ask God to break your heart with anything that breaks His heart. And boy, will the flesh be shown to you where flesh is on the throne of your life. Now, because God has given us the power of the Holy Spirit, and because He has broken the sin principle in our life that it cannot dominate us, it comes down to one word, and that word is choice. You have the choice day in, moment in, moment out, to live pleasing to God or please your flesh. It comes right down to that. And you who are beginning this walk with Jesus and pleasing God or those who have walked a long time this way, know that that's where it lies, in the choice of being filled with the Spirit and walking after God's will or walking the way of the flesh. But from God's side, there is no excuse for your doing it, because God has given you the power of the Holy Spirit to enable you to walk the way He wants you to walk, and He has broken the power of sin over you, so Satan can no more control you. We can yield to our fleshy desires and not live lives pleasing to God, but we do not have to yield. We choose to sin. We choose to yield. Think of that when you go to sin. You're choosing to yield to the flesh. It is your choice. I think, oh, I'm glad I didn't live in the time of Belshazzar when God wrote on the wall, you know. K. Smith, you chose to do... Oh, if every time we sinned that happened, it would keep us walking right anyhow, wouldn't it? But we do choose to sin. We do not have to be in bondage to any kind of sin, and we do not have to choose to sin, and the more we are filled with the Holy Spirit, the more we will walk in obedience. Now, study how to be filled with the Spirit this week. Okay, I'll give you a couple of hints. Ephesians 4.19, 4.18, 4.18, excuse me again, and Ephesians 3.16. I love this. It's a prayer of Paul's. He prayed that the Ephesian church would be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. And we should be praying for one another that each one of us will be strengthened by His power in the inner man. And I'm going to stop right here, and I'm going to ask you to pray for the person next to you that that woman will be strengthened with God's power in the inner man. Make sure she's born again first. If you're not born again, that's okay. But be honest, okay? Bow. Ask the Lord to strengthen that person next to you on each side. Thank you for empowering and strengthening each woman in this room, how each one of us need that. And Lord, through this entire week ahead, may we pray one for the other that we will be strengthened with all might by Your Spirit in the inner man. We just really rely on You to do that work within us. We praise You for it. Now, God has done two things to keep us from having to walk in the flesh. Some of you this morning will say, but Kay, I'm still in bondage. I don't know what's the matter with me. I just can't seem to walk consistently before the Lord. Well, you know, we have a responsibility too, and I want to give you some points of your responsibility, and these are in numerical order, so you want to write them down, and we'll go fairly quickly. First one, Romans 13, 14. Romans 13, 14. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh. And I have a zingy example of this. Years ago in a church we had, we had a lady that came to me and said to me one day, Kay, I am a prostitute. In fact, I guess she was less than a prostitute. She just picked up guys, and I don't want to use any other words. She, as we would have defined it then in those more delicate days, she was a scarlet woman. We don't use that language anymore. Anyhow, and she said, you know, I really want to be delivered out of this. And I asked Chuck last night if I could tell you this because it was so terrible. It just still almost shatters me. But she used to take tracts from our church and stamp our church stamp on the back and go down to the pier and pass out tracts and pick up guys. And that's the way she met her boyfriends, and then she'd take them home to bed. And she came to me because she said she wanted deliverance. So I prayed with her, and I just really said, oh, you know, God, just really help her, show her, blah, blah, blah. And we prayed for quite a while. And she left the house, and she went over to the church, and she got some tracts, and she went back to the pier. And she came back a few days later, and she said, I just can't get over this. I just, you know, this is my life. You know, I'm so tempted by this. And I said, well, what are you doing? And I said, I know God gave deliverance. There's no shortage with him. What are you doing? Where are you going? Where did you go when you left here the other day? See, I didn't know she'd gone back down to the pier. She said, well, I felt the Lord wanted me to pass out tracts again. And I'm, oh, you know. No, that isn't what the Lord wanted you to do. So we prayed again. And we prayed. And every week for about six weeks, we would pray, and she would end up doing the very same thing. And finally God gave me the Scripture for it. And I said, look, don't come over for prayer anymore because I'm not going to pray with you anymore. I've got three little kids. I can't take any more time. It's not doing a bit of good because you are constantly making provision for the flesh. You keep going right back to the place of temptation. As Chuck says, if you're an alcoholic, you don't go in the bar to get a Coke. You just stay away from the bar completely, don't you? If you're on a diet, have you ever been on a diet and you went to the market and you bought all this goody stuff and I won't be tempted and you put it in your cupboards and you put it in your refrigerator and I'm not... it's for the family. The family needs it, okay? We can all relate to that one. And I have found the best way to diet is put my whole family on a diet. But I mean, you know, at least have nothing but good food there. Have the vegetables and the fruit that they can have and just all the salad stuff and carrot sticks and all this sort of thing because if I bake cookies, it's fatal to all of us. And God has said, don't make any provision for the flesh. If you do not seem able to walk the victorious life in Christ, don't blame Him. He's not deficient in power. Some place along the line, you're making provision for the flesh. Romans 13, 14, write this down. All right, secondly, Galatians 5, 16. Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Galatians 5, 25. Also, if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. If the Spirit lives in you, walk after the Spirit. What does walking after the Spirit mean? It means doing those things that please God. And the Word is full of it. Do some research this week. I think you ought to take a pencil and paper at home and say, what does it mean to me to walk in the Spirit? And start writing it down so that your mind is just being filled with this. Okay, Colossians 3, 5. Oh, I love this scripture. It's such an answer to all this. Colossians 3, 5. Remember, this is your responsibility. God has made all provision, but your responsibility, mortify. And that means put to death or reckon as dead the deeds of the flesh. Therefore, your members which are upon the earth, you mortify these members, these sensual desires that come forth in your life. And these are the things which we are to put to death. Now, they were nailed to the cross, but we reckon them as dead. I heard Dr. McGee say one time the flesh tries to climb out of the coffin all the time. It's always fine to be resurrected, isn't it? It would love Crystal's song if the song had been, you know, my flesh will be resurrected. I'll rise again. It says that all the time to us. Okay, put to death, therefore, your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection. How many people are in love with the ministers? How many women? My poor sons, I tell you, and the ministers at Calvary. How many, I'm going to say the word stupid, women fall in love with ministers? Thank you. They think they're some kind of... They're just men anointed by God. That's all. They're no different than you or your husband unless your husband's not born again. And women sit there in service and they go, oh, even crazy. They sit there and then they go in for counseling, and boy, is that a trip. Their husbands won't listen to them or they don't have a boyfriend, and here is this godly man sitting there, compassionate, loving, tender, giving them the advice they need, and what do they do? They fall in love with them. This is what I've always looked for. Satan is right there. Inordinate affection. It's a work of the flesh, and you can never please God as long as you have inordinate affection for anybody else who's married. Now, remember that. This is straight talk, but we need it, don't we? I bet you very easily I could name at least 50 ministers, I could probably name a lot more, who are out of the ministry today, miserable, unhappy, defeated men because some woman in the congregation set forth to seduce them, destroyed their ministry. The guy left his wife, his children, married her, and found out she wasn't what she pretended to be either, and his ministry's been destroyed. How tragic. How tragic. Keep yourself from inordinate affection. Mortify it. Put it to death. If you're sitting there and you're married and Don Stewart gets up to speak or T. Thornton gets up to speak and you're a young gal in the church and your marriage isn't going all that well, don't you sit there and start daydreaming about T. or Don or any of these other men. If you do, you might as well not be in service, and I would rather you get up and leave service than sit there and do that because you're sending out evil thoughts. That's inordinate affection. I feel very strongly about this because I know so many ministers who have had their ministry destroyed because of it. Okay. Mortify, therefore, your deeds which are upon the earth. Covetousness, evil concupiscence, covetousness which is idolatry, for which things the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. Okay. 1 Peter 2.11 Oh, and I love this. This is precious. This is so sweet. Dearly beloved, he says. Don't you like that? And I say that to you this morning. You're precious to me. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims. Now, this is not strangers and pilgrims to me. Peter is saying, hey, you're just pilgrims upon this earth. You're citizens of heaven. You're not citizens of this earth. And I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims upon this earth. Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Abstain. What's it mean to abstain? Deprive yourself of them. Abstain. Stay away from them. Keep away. Okay. 1 Corinthians 6.18 Flee fornication. In this day and age, we have to hit these things heavily. Because America is full of sex maniacs. And the, oh, everything you turn, every ad, everything, commercials, programs, TV. There's just sex, sex, sex constantly. Shirley Gellatly at the women's retreat was very, very plain on this. Much plainer than I will be this morning. But 1 Corinthians 6.18 Flee fornication. That can mean adultery too. Just run away from it. Get up and run if you have to. We don't do enough running away from stuff. We stand there and I wonder why I'm tempted. Or, you know, we do. And then I wonder, oh, we just can't understand this terrible temptation. Okay. 1 Corinthians 6.20 These things are your responsibility. There is no instant way to overcoming the flesh. It is a daily walk in the spirit. And I want you to remember that. It is a thing of choices and will be till the day Jesus comes. And you can be like the five wise virgins or you can be like the five foolish. It's your choice. 1 Corinthians 6.20 Glorify God in your body and your spirit which are God's. Do you glorify God in your body? How do you dress? Can people look at you and tell you're a Christian? You all look gorgeous this morning. I'm saying this to the wrong group. I can see that. Unless when you're at the beach. I don't know. Do you glorify God in your body and your spirit? It's so difficult for you young girls. It is so difficult. Our condominium that we stay at in Hawaii has a beach right below it. And you're trying to look at the ocean. You look down. I told Chuck I feel like I'm in the flesh pots of Egypt. It's so bad. At times. And the bathing suits have become so horrible. And glorify God in your body. You girls that go down to the beach. And nobody likes to go. I don't do it anymore because I can't be in the sun. But nobody ever loved the beach more than Chuck and Kay. Nobody. I mean to be able to live here. I still go and just walk on the beach with a lot of suntan cream on. I mean sunscreen. But glorify God in your body. When you're on the beach, you dress to glorify God. There are bathing suits that look nice. And they're right. And they're okay. I think if I were you and I tried a bathing suit on, I'd say, Laura, is this okay? Now some of you have husbands. And I know what they say to you. And you'll have to work that out with your husband. And if he wants you to dress a certain way to attract other men's attention, that would be his problem. But I think there's a way that you can be modest. I really do. And God will help you. Pray about it. Glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are God's. Okay. 1 Thessalonians 4.1. 1 Thessalonians 4.1. And I love this in the New International Version. And, by the way, I always compare it with King James. And if it's any different, I mean, if the true meaning is different, I wouldn't use this. So this is beautiful also in King James. Excuse me for not having my references ready. I have been so rushed. I'm having to do it this way today. Okay. 4.1. Finally, brothers, finally, sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God. As, in fact, you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. Verse 3. It is God's will that you should be holy, that you should avoid sexual immorality, that each of you should learn to control her own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lusts like the heathen who do not know God. And that, in this manner, that's as far as I'm going to go in there, but in the Living Bible, I love that. We instructed you how to live in a way that's pleasing to God. Please read it in King James, too, because it's also very, very good in King James. Furthermore, then, we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more. And this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess her vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the lusts of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles or the heathens which do not know God. Every one of you in this room should know how to possess your vessel, your body in sanctification and honor. And if you don't know how, ask God to show you how to do it. Okay, 2 Timothy 3.19b. That means the latter half of the Scripture. Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Now, are you hearing this this morning? Abstain. Flee. Let's see, what else? Abstain and flee and mortify and walk in the Spirit and don't make provision for the flesh. These are definite admonishments from the Lord for each one of you. The next one, that was 2 Timothy 3.19b. It isn't? Well, does that surprise you? Oh, sure, it's 2.19. Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. 2 Timothy 2.19. This is what's coming from being in Medford all week. I'm still up in Medford on Last Times Truth and I'm over in Israel and Lebanon and Iran and every place else. And yet, this is so powerful in my heart. I'm sorry I'm getting my references wrong. Okay, I'm glad. Keep checking. I've got one more for you. 1 Timothy 2.22. I've got that one right. Flee also youthful lusts. I don't have any promises. 2 Timothy 2.22. Flee also youthful lusts. I'm just going to tell you. I don't have problems with that anymore. Youthful lusts? What's a youthful lust? But Paul is speaking to Timothy. And there are certain lusts that are especially prevalent among the young people. Like, I'm not tempted to smoke pot or drink beer or do any of those things. They just are not lusts that are... Maybe some of you older women are in an environment where you are tempted to do some of these things. But flee. Run again. Flee. Do you get it? Are you hearing this, Marie? Get away from these things. Don't be in the places where these things are done. If you are, get out of there. But follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. And the last one. Oh, I hope this is right. 1 Timothy 4.15. Yes, it's right. And this is what I want you to do all week. Meditate upon these things. Give thyself wholly to them. Completely. That thy profiting may appear to all. 1 Timothy 4.15. Meditate upon these things. Give thyself wholly to them. That thy profiting may appear to all. Really go over these things. It isn't enough to just be in class. These are truths this morning, especially, well, all of it. But the first two on the power of God to deliver you from the walk in the flesh and to empower you to walk after the Spirit are so important. I have never known a Christian who grew in Jesus Christ and really matured in Him that was not extremely conscious of these truths. I mean really grew. Oh, this is over a long period of time. I have never known anyone who really showed forth holy behavior, really holy behavior over an extended period of time who was not very aware of these truths and practiced them. Because to walk in holiness, you must be filled with the Spirit continually. And to be filled with the Spirit continually, you must recognize that sin doesn't have power over you, and you must yield yourself to the Holy Spirit to just fill you anew and afresh. This is a difficult lesson, but let God just really use it to cause great growth. This is plant food this morning. This isn't just giving you air and sunlight and water. This is plant food. This is the stuff that helps you really grow. And if you raise African violets, you know if you don't give them flower food, they'll never bloom, will they? Sometimes, but very rarely. They need that special additive to the soil. If they're to have those beautiful little faces, praise God. And if we're to have those beautiful lives, praise God. We need these truths deeply imprinted in our lives. I would advise you to get watching these books. I do not recommend any other at this point, but I do recommend The Normal Christian Life. It was life-changing to me. Yes. Okay, this is why. Because the local church, do you know anything about the local church? Okay, was started by a man called Witness Lee who has written some things under the name of Watchman Nee, and they are not right on. I just wouldn't read any more of them. The Normal Christian Life and Release of the Spirit, I know Carolyn recommends and really enjoys. But I did hear a man the other day who told me some things in Release of the Spirit which were kind of batty stuff that I'll get together with her later on. We'll go over, have fun. We love to do that. We're both edified by it. Shall we stand? If you need prayer this morning, special prayer, I'm going to ask the ladies to come forward again today, and we'll put some chairs out, and we will minister to you in prayer. It seemed such a blessing last week to all the women who had just special needs, and we don't want you to go out. We won't do this every time, but the Spirit just spoke to my heart again that it was very necessary that we do this again today. Shall we pray? We sense your Spirit, Father, just moving across this room. We sense some rebellion and some resistance, and we refuse that in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. For that one this morning that just says, I don't want to walk that way, I'm happy the way I am, I like the kind of life I'm living, Awaken her, Lord, out of her sleep. Open her blinded eyes. The gods of this world blind our eyes, and how they love to do it, and how Satan loves to keep us in darkness. May the light of the knowledge of Jesus Christ shine upon her heart. Oh, thank you, Jesus. Right at this moment, thank you. You're working that work. I feel it. Praise the name of Jesus. Let your light shine in each one of our hearts this morning. Open up new realms of our walk with you, new ways to please you. Forgive us the places where we've stumbled, and we've been unfaithful, and we haven't pleased you. And just let us start all over again this morning. Thank you, Father, that you allowed your precious Son, your Son, Jesus, to hang on the cross in my place today, and in the place of every woman in this room who acknowledges Jesus as Savior. Thank you that you are willing to let him take the punishment that I deserved. And thank you also, Father, that he, through his death, wrought deliverance for me of the power of sin over me, that I will never be enslaved by it again. Lord, I pray that the women will long to be filled with your Holy Spirit. I pray that they'll long to walk in the light. And I pray that the choices of their heart will be those choices that please you. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask it. I want each one of you right now, just before we leave the room, if you really mean it with all your heart, I want you to bow your heart before the Lord. Bow your head, close your eyes, and say in your heart, Jesus, Father, whatever way you want to say it, I choose to walk with you. Will you? Thanks.